N’Delta: Military
deploys more troops against militants at oil plant
By LUCKY NWANKWERE, Abuja
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
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The Nigerian Army has sent more troops to drive militants
from an oil plant they have occupied in Bayelsa State since
they abducted 27 people there at the weekend.
"Following the reverses we have suffered in our attempt
to secure the platform with minimum force, we decided to increase
the number of our troops and the grade of armament, so as
to save a very bad situation," a military officer told
AFP on Tuesday, on condition of anonymity.
Suspected rebels attacked a flow station operated by Agip,
a subsidiary of Italian oil company, Eni, in the southern
Bayelsa State on Sunday in what military sources said was
a reprisal for last week's killing of nine militants by soldiers.
Eni said that 16 of its Nigerian employees and 11 soldiers
guarding the facility had been seized in the attack while
another eight employees and 40 soldiers escaped.
An industry source, meanwhile, said on Tuesday, he doubted
the soldiers would be able to dislodge the militants from
the facility. "It won’t be an easy task to dislodge
the boys. What they do is that they mine the platform as soon
as they take it over, and they challenge the soldiers to dare
(to) fire a shot. If a shot is fired, the entire area will
go up in flames," the source said.
Kidnappings and armed attacks have intensified in the Niger
Delta region, where some 200 foreigners and scores of Nigerians
have been abducted since the start of 2006. These kidnappings,
coupled with acts of vandalism and sabotage, have cost Nigeria
an annual revenue loss of 4.4 billion dollars.
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